Word of Mouth blog + Seasonal food | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth+seasonal-food
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Does local, seasonal produce really taste better?http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/22/local-seasonal-produce-taste-better
Going for fresh food produced in your own area is a nice idea – but does it have more to do with feeling smug than eating better?<p>Eating local produce, in season, is a lovely notion. While it was once the natural way of things, it is now a trend. And as such, it has reached that point at which the backlash begins to gather apace. The mantra has started to sound like hackneyed PR schtick. The legendary London greengrocer <a href="http://www.andreasveg.co.uk/" title="">Andreas Georghiou</a> tells me: &quot;It's very nice talking about it, but everyone I encounter who has a shop and says, 'We're just going to do seasonal,&quot; it's more of a marketing gimmick than their own personal beliefs.&quot;</p><p>Last year the Observer's food critic <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/jayrayner" title="">Jay Rayner</a> slapped a swift nail in this particular coffin when he set out to discover how a sustainable food chain might look in the coming years, and concluded that local, seasonal produce is not a solution but <a href="http://www.shortlist.com/instant-improver/food/menu-rage" title="">a middle-class lifestyle choice</a>. Are the assumptions cheffy types proliferate about it being the route to superior taste also unfounded?</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/22/local-seasonal-produce-taste-better">Continue reading...</a>Seasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleFruitVegetablesEnvironmentTue, 22 Apr 2014 11:27:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/22/local-seasonal-produce-taste-betterNick Turner / Alamy/AlamyA farmers' market in Stroud … is flavour really the issue? Photograph: Nick Turner / Alamy/AlamyNick Turner / Alamy/AlamyA farmers' market in Stroud … is flavour really the issue? Photograph: Nick Turner / Alamy/AlamyAmy Fleming2014-04-22T11:27:00ZHow to make the perfect apple piehttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/nov/07/how-to-make-perfect-apple-pie
Puff or shortcrust, cooking apples or dessert, cream or custard – and can plain old apple pie compete with tarte tatin and strudel?<p>When something is described as &quot;as American as apple pie&quot;, it simply means that no one remembers exactly which immigrant group brought it with them – and where the apple pie is concerned, those mellow mists of time are more like a fruitful fog, because it's been a staple in the States since before those states existed.</p><p>Indeed, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America suggests that <a href="http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html" title="">the typical American version</a> of this classic dessert descends from &quot;15th-century English pies&quot; and ideas brought over by the earliest colonial settlers.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/nov/07/how-to-make-perfect-apple-pie">Continue reading...</a>FruitDessertSeasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleThu, 07 Nov 2013 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/nov/07/how-to-make-perfect-apple-pieFelicity Cloake/GuardianFelicity Cloake's perfect apple pie. Photographs: Felicity Cloake for the GuardianFelicity Cloake/GuardianFelicity Cloake's perfect apple pie. Photograph: Felicity Cloake for the GuardianFelicity Cloake2013-11-07T09:00:00ZHow to cook the perfect gratin dauphinoishttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/11/how-cook-perfect-gratin-dauphinois
It's a simple dish, but getting the flavours, texture and rich sauce of this French classic – a perfect accompaniment to spring lamb – just right is trickier than it looks<p>The dauphinois, a rich gratin of sliced potatoes and cream, is not, unlike the deep-fried <a href="http://food.bobarnott.com/2012/11/20/pommes-dauphine/" title="">potato profiteroles</a> that so flummoxed MasterChef contestants last year, named after royalty - but in my opinion it deserves to be. Unless, of course, such an association would lead to its extinction - a tragedy indeed.</p><p>It's an unabashedly decadent dish that makes an excellent partner to spring lamb in this decidedly wintery weather, that I'm focusing on today. I've found it more difficult than it looks: previous attempts have been variously plagued by undercooked and soggy potatoes, dryness and gruesomely curdled cream. So how do you make a gratin dauphinois fit for a … president?</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/11/how-cook-perfect-gratin-dauphinois">Continue reading...</a>French food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleSeasonal foodSpring food and drinkThu, 11 Apr 2013 05:59:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/apr/11/how-cook-perfect-gratin-dauphinoisFelicity Cloake/PRFelicity Cloake's perfect gratin dauphinois. Photograph: Felicity CloakeFelicity Cloake/PRFelicity Cloake's perfect gratin dauphinois. Photograph: Felicity CloakeFelicity Cloake2013-04-11T05:59:00ZForaging: 'tis the season. Or is it?http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/may/22/foraging-season
Foraging experts make careful calculations but plants and fungi never appear on cue. John Wright explains his seasonal struggle to predict the weather<p>&quot;Sorry,&quot; I said, &quot;they are completely out of season&quot;. I should have known better. It was late April and a TV director was after some truffles for a programme he was making. It would have been nice to oblige but it was like being asked for snowdrops in August or swallows in December. A week later a friend popped round and showed me 20 of the damn things he had found in his garden.</p><p>In my line of work this sort of thing happens all the time and it is difficult to account for – biology is messy and organisms seem determined to confound our expectations. One of the most agonisingly difficult things I have undertaken was to write a forager's calendar for my <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781408801857">River Cottage Hedgerow Handbook</a>. I checked my records, the date stamp on a thousand photographs, spoke to friends and canvassed opinions. The very next year, 2010, spring was extremely late and bulrushes appeared at least three weeks after I said they would and elderflowers two weeks. In my <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780747589327">Mushroom Handbook</a> I say unequivocally that wood blewits appear in late autumn, but they can pop up in June if they feel like it.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/may/22/foraging-season">Continue reading...</a>ForagingSeasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleTue, 22 May 2012 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/may/22/foraging-seasonStockFood/Getty ImagesA basket of assorted wild mushrooms. Photograph: StockFood/Getty ImagesStockFood/Getty ImagesA basket of assorted wild mushrooms. Photograph: StockFood/Getty ImagesJohn Wright2012-05-22T09:00:00ZDo you know Alphonso mango?http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/27/do-you-know-alphonso-mango
During its brief season the Alphonso mango becomes something of a national obsession in India<p>As anyone who's tasted an Alphonso mango knows, its short season, from now until the end of June, is a major cause for celebration. Often making an appearance on <a href="http://www.listology.com/megavolts/list/1001-foods-try-you-die">&quot;1,000 things to eat before you die&quot;-type lists</a>, this Indian variety has become more and more popular in the UK.</p><p>It's easy to see why. Alphonso's voluptuous shape and sunshine-yellow skin reveals succulent saffron-coloured flesh that's smooth and buttery: imagine a cross between peach, nectarine, apricot and melon with notes of honey and citrus. But better.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/27/do-you-know-alphonso-mango">Continue reading...</a>FruitIndian food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleSeasonal foodFri, 27 Apr 2012 08:50:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/27/do-you-know-alphonso-mangoBob Fila/MCT via Getty ImagesAlphonso mangoes. Photograph: Bob Fila/MCT via Getty ImagesBob Fila/MCT via Getty ImagesAlphonso mangoes. Photograph: Bob Fila/MCT via Getty ImagesSejal Sukhadwala2012-04-27T08:50:00ZSeason's eatings: wild garlichttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/23/seasons-eatings-wild-garlic
Any garlic lover who goes down to the woods today is in for a pleasant surprise: wild or bear's garlic is in season now<p>After months of stored roots and fruits, spring comes to the larder in swathes of glorious green. But as welcome as shop-bought offerings of asparagus, young spinach and purple sprouting broccoli are, the real treats don't come neatly packaged. Right now, anyone <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/apr/15/spring-flowers-dan-pearson">fond of a woodland walk</a> has an extra reason to don their wellies: at this time of year <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsons">wild garlic</a> is prolific.</p><p>A member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium">Allium</a> family, the plant's elegant broad, pointed leaves have the same pleasing combination of sweetness and astringency that make leeks, onions, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/10/spring-onions-recipes">spring onions</a>, chives and bulb garlic so useful in the kitchen. Although edible, the bulbs of the wild garlic plant are usually too small to be of much use and if you ever buy a bunch you're unlikely to see any bulb at all (digging the bulbs out means no foliage for next year). The characteristic white flowers however, are perfectly edible – and pretty too – although the plant is at its best before too many flowers appear, signalling tougher leaves and a more bitter flavour. In April, when wild garlic is at its peak, you are more likely to find delicious tight buds than open flowers.<br /><br />Like most people, I'm loth to ingest anything that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_liver_oil">tastes foul</a> just for its health benefits. So the fact that wild garlic, like its cultivated relatives, is extremely <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/unlocking-the-benefits-of-garlic/">good for you</a> as well as delicious is an added boon. Eaten raw the leaves are at their most pungent and fiery, but they come into their own when cooked. In fact they are almost <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/wild_garlic">endlessly versatile</a>: quickly blanched or wilted in olive oil they make a delicately garlicky alternative to spinach (but bear in mind they perform the same trick that spinach does of turning a carrier bag stuffed full of leaves into a measly side portion for two). </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/23/seasons-eatings-wild-garlic">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleSeasonal foodMon, 23 Apr 2012 08:45:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/apr/23/seasons-eatings-wild-garlicDave McAleavy Images/AlamyWild garlic, aka ramsons, wood garlic and bear's garlic, growing in Lancashire. Photograph: Dave McAleavy Images/AlamyDave McAleavy Images/AlamyWild garlic or ramsons growing in woodland in Lancashire. Photograph: Dave McAleavy Images/AlamyKaren Homer2012-04-23T08:45:00ZSeasonal eating: reason and treasonhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jan/17/seasonal-eating-reason-and-treason
Food miles aside, what is it that prevents us from eating seasonal goodies at the wrong time of year? Have you started on the hot cross buns yet?<p>I feel a bit like sleeping beauty must have done when she woke up after a long coma. Not beautiful, sadly, but slightly disoriented by the passage of time. I spent nearly two weeks in bed over Christmas, due to a nasty bout of pneumonia, and didn't eat anything &quot;Christmassy&quot;. So when the infection cleared and my appetite returned I went in search of a box of Quality Street and a turkey breast joint. I didn't want to miss out entirely on the season to indulge. By the time I began trawling the shelves for seasonal fare, the items I wanted to put in my basket had already (and for some time), been replaced by Easter eggs and &quot;spring&quot; lamb.</p><p>On Boxing Day several of the big supermarkets began displaying Easter chicks and chocolate bunnies, confectioners then started lining up Valentines Day treats and just about everywhere was stocking hot cross buns. They'd cleared the shelves of Christmas and were gearing up for the next thing, just as they had chucked out all the barbecue stuff in September (only to be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/30/indian-summer-barbecue-weekend">caught short by the October heatwave</a>) to start touting mince pies.<br /><br />My daughter begged me to buy hot cross buns in our local Co-op but I couldn't bring myself to do it as we still had Christmas cake left, an explanation that made no sense to her. And it doesn't really, when you examine it from an eating point of view - but we tend to stick to these patterns of shopping.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jan/17/seasonal-eating-reason-and-treason">Continue reading...</a>Seasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleTue, 17 Jan 2012 10:25:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/jan/17/seasonal-eating-reason-and-treasonFoodcollection/Getty ImagesHot cross buns. Why only for Easter? Photograph: Foodcollection/Getty ImagesFoodcollection/Getty ImagesHot cross buns. Photograph: Foodcollection/Getty ImagesLizzie Enfield2012-01-17T10:25:00ZInternet recipe search: seasons' eatingshttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/25/internet-recipe-seach-seasons-eatings
Examining when certain recipes are popularly searched for on the internet reveals some interesting habits and some predictable panics. Oliver Thring reports<p>The response to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/19/fruitful-search-recipes-internet">last week's post on the best and worst recipe websites and blogs</a> was a reminder of this corner of the internet's astounding diversity. This week we're looking at people's search habits, starting with <a href="http://searchinsights.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/the-wheel-of-hunger/">the graphic above conceived by Duncan Bloor</a> and designed by <a href="http://www.thepiratedesignco.co.uk/">Adam Hinks</a>. It's called the Wheel of Hunger, and it shows the 20 most common food searches that Brits make across the internet, month by month.</p><p>If you want to look at it properly, you might be best <a href="http://searchinsights.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/the-wheel-of-hunger/">downloading it</a> so you can zoom in. The title isn't great: the name seems to imply more serious forms of hunger than are in fact intended. But the idea behind the wheel is brilliant, as are the content and design. </p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/25/internet-recipe-seach-seasons-eatings">Continue reading...</a>Seasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleInternetTechnologyTue, 25 Oct 2011 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/25/internet-recipe-seach-seasons-eatingsDuncan BloorThe 'wheel of hunger' shows the most searched-for recipes for each day of the year. See the full size version at <a href="http://searchinsights.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/the-wheel-of-hunger/">Duncan Bloor's blog, Search insights</a>. Illustration: <a href="http://www.thepiratedesignco.co.uk/">Adam Hinks</a>Duncan BloorThe 'wheel of hunger' shows the most searched-for recipes for each day of the year. See the full size version at <a href="http://searchinsights.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/the-wheel-of-hunger/">Duncan Bloor's blog, Search insights</a>. Illustration: Duncan BloorOliver Thring2011-10-25T09:00:00ZAutumn in full fighttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/17/autumn-in-full-fig
In the countryside around Toulouse, giving a fig is a practically an obligation. If you had 6 varieties of fig trees in your garden, you'd be keen to find new ways of using up the fruit, too<p>Our next door neighbour has half a dozen varieties of fig tree in his garden, on the outskirts of Toulouse. He says he can't possibly eat them all, so at the end of August, as they began to ripen, he started offering us some of his harvest. </p><p>Every few days for weeks he'd instruct us to leave a big shopping bag hanging on his fence, and we'd come back to find it heavy with kilos figs of all kinds and in varying stages of ripeness from fairly firm through to sodden and boozy.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/17/autumn-in-full-fig">Continue reading...</a>Autumn food and drinkFood & drinkLife and styleFood and drinkTravelFranceSeasonal foodMon, 17 Oct 2011 09:10:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/17/autumn-in-full-figImage Source/CorbisFresh green figs. Photograph: Image Source/CorbisImage Source/CorbisFresh green figs. Photograph: Image Source/CorbisSandra Haurant2011-10-17T09:10:00Z'Reverse season' asparagushttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/12/reverse-season-asparagus
A Wye Valley asparagus farmer is growing a new variety that's harvested in the autumn. Would year-round English asparagus be a good thing?<p>As I put my autumn asparagus on to steam, I had a Glastonbury flashback. No, not that kind; just an uneasy memory.</p><p>The band was the Velvet Underground, who had really ceased to exist in 1968 - yet there I was watching them in 1993. Something didn't feel quite right. It was the Velvet Underground - but was it, like, <em>really</em> the Velvet Underground? (I stress that this was not an acid thing.)</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/12/reverse-season-asparagus">Continue reading...</a>Seasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleMon, 12 Sep 2011 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/12/reverse-season-asparagusAlan ConnorEnglish 'reverse season' autumn asparagus. Spooky. Photograph: Alan ConnorAlan ConnorBritish 'reverse season' autumn asparagus. Photograph: Alan ConnorAlan Connor2011-09-12T10:00:00ZClosing the hungry gaphttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/apr/28/hungry-gap
As spring warmth starts to bring on the first summer vegetables, Tom Norrington Davies has some fresh ideas for making the most of the last winter stalwarts, plus a few new discoveries - does anyone have a recipe for Japanese knotweed shoots?<p>Any chef who has been in the game as long as I have will tell you the same thing: the first warm and sunny spell of the year is a bit of a nightmare. Don't get me wrong, I'm as glad to see the back of winter as the next man. But last week, even as I relished cycling to work without the aid of Gortex, I knew what was coming. An eerily quiet lunch. </p><p>Only the photophobic want to eat in on the first (unofficial) day of British summertime. So as office workers and tourists jostle for space in London's parks and squares, the sandwich shop's gain is our loss. But I'm not bitter. I'd be there myself if I weren't at the stove. Only the inhabitants of an island like ours could have coined the phrase &quot;make hay while the sun shines&quot;.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/apr/28/hungry-gap">Continue reading...</a>Seasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleWed, 28 Apr 2010 08:20:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/apr/28/hungry-gapGraeme Robertson/GuardianEnjoying lunch in the park on the first sunny day of spring. It's still going to be a few weeks before you'll get a home-grown salad, though. Photograph: Graeme RobertsonGraeme Robertson/GuardianLunch in the park. People enjoy the sun and mild weather on the first sunny day of spring in London. Photograph: Graeme RobertsonTom Norrington Davies2010-04-28T08:20:00ZVideo: How seasonal and local can we eat?http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/video/2010/mar/16/seasonal-local-vegetables-riverford-organic
We all like to talk about sourcing our vegetables locally but there's no shame in admitting that after a long winter a fridge full of carrots can be hard to bear. Anyway, isn't provenance more important? Tim Hayward meets Guy Watson, founder of the Riverford vegetable box scheme <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/video/2010/mar/16/seasonal-local-vegetables-riverford-organic">Continue reading...</a>Seasonal foodFood & drinkLife and styleEthical and green livingFoodEnvironmentTue, 16 Mar 2010 10:20:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/video/2010/mar/16/seasonal-local-vegetables-riverford-organicguardian.co.ukRiverford organic vegetable box Photograph: guardian.co.ukTim Hayward and Shehani Fernando2010-03-16T10:20:00Z